J.K. Rowling has written another fairytale. Yes, we repeat another fairytale.
But before Harry Potter fans go into meltdown and start dreaming of the next adventure to fill the boy wizard shaped hole in their heart, there’s a catch. It might never actually be published.
The author revealed to CNN that the manuscript was scrawled on her 50th birthday dress, which has been left hanging in her closet.
“The theme of my 50th birthday, which I held at Halloween, even though that’s not really my birthday, was come as your own private nightmare,” she revealed in an interview with Christiane Amanpour. “And I went as a lost manuscript. And I wrote over a dress most of that book. So that book, I don’t know whether it will ever be published, but it’s actually hanging in a wardrobe currently.”
Rowling dropped the bombshell while talking about why she decided to start her children’s charity as well as the decision to use a pen name.
She revealed the decision actually came from her Harry Potter publisher. They wanted to disguise her gender because they believed the book would appeal to both boys and girls.
“And obviously, that lasted about three seconds…I’m certainly not complaining, but the book won an award and I got a big advance from America and I got a lot of publicity. So I was outed as a woman,” she said, agreeing with Amanpour who said she’s now a strong female role model.
While she said at the time she probably wouldn’t have chosen the pen name herself, she was so grateful that someone was publishing her novel she would have gone with any of their suggestions.
“Now, I actually quite like having a pen name, because that feels like an identity and then in private life, I’m Jo Murray. And it feels like quite a nice separation.”